1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a reel mower apparatus having a reel-type cutting unit or units attached to a vehicle body for cutting grass, and a duct for transmitting grass clippings through a duct to a grass catcher attached to the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reel type lawn tractor of the type Doted above is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Publication S56-29912, for example. This conventional tractor has ducts for transmitting grass clippings obliquely upward from rear positions of a reel-type cutting unit. The lawn tractor which collects grass cut by the reel-type cutting in a grass catcher through the ducts can dispense with an operation to collect grass clippings from the ground with a sweeper or the like, thereby allowing a grass cutting operation to be carried out more efficiently than the type of tractor which discharges grass clippings to the ground. However, in the conventional lawn tractor noted above, the reel-type cutting unit has an open front, and feeds grass clippings straight into the ducts. Since, with such a construction, the rotating reel cannot apply sufficient kinetic energy to the grass clippings, high performance blows are required to collect the grass clippings completely.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,786 discloses a construction including an auger for gathering grass cut by a reel-type cutting unit once in a duct. According to this construction, glass clippings are reliably fed to the duct and collected in a grass catcher. Its disadvantage is that the reel-type cutting unit has a complicated construction and is high cost because of the driven type auger being additionally included.